Press
Release

For Immediate Release March 23, 2009

Washington D.C.FBI National Press Office(202) 324-3691

Owen Harris Named Special Agent in Charge of FBI Charlotte Division

Owen Harris has been named Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Charlotte Division. Director Robert S. Mueller, III appointed him to this position to replace SAC Nathan T. Gray, who was recently named SAC of the Phoenix Division. Mr. Harris most recently served as a Section Chief in the FBI’s Directorate of Intelligence.

Mr. Harris entered on duty as an FBI special agent in 1990. Upon completion of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, he was assigned to the Indianapolis Division, Gary Resident Agency, where he gained experience working in various investigative programs. In 1997, he was promoted to a supervisory role in the Hate Crimes Unit within the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters. While there, he served as the national program manager for civil rights investigations involving racial and religious discrimination. He represented the FBI on the U.S. Attorney General’s Hate Crimes Working Group, helping to develop a national hate crimes training program for law enforcement officers and executives. He also represented the FBI on the President’s National Church Arson Task Force, which directed investigations into arsons at houses of worship throughout the country.

In 1999, Mr. Harris was selected as a violent crimes supervisor in the Houston Division, where he directed four multi-agency task forces focused on gang violence, property crimes, international fugitives, and crimes against children. During his tenure in Houston, he supervised one of the FBI’s largest child sexual exploitation investigations.

He was promoted to Assistant Section Chief in the Counterterrorism Division in 2003, where he helped to establish the Terrorism Reports and Requirements Section. His work in the Counterterrorism Division earned him the Director’s Award for Excellence in Management. In 2005, he was named Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Pittsburgh Division. In that role, he directed all counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and intelligence operations in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Since 2007, Mr. Harris has served as a section chief in the FBI’s Directorate of Intelligence, where he managed collection operations in support of national priorities. He also was the FBI’s executive representative to the U.S. Intelligence Community’s senior advisory board on national intelligence matters.

Mr. Harris is a native of Pennsylvania and a graduate of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminology in 1985. After graduation, Mr. Harris worked as a youth and family counselor for a non-profit organization in Washington, Pennsylvania. In 1986, he was commissioned as a United States Air Force officer and served as a Missile Combat Crew Commander and Instructor at the 321st Strategic Missile Wing in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He is married and the father of three children.